Minnesota Unemployment Benefits

If you are laid off from your job and receive a severance package you can sill file for Minnesota unemployment benefits but do not expect any unemployment pay until after your severance pay has run out. This also goes for vacation pay, sick pay and any holiday pay you may receive. When you are laid off your severance and other pay is still considered employment pay even if you are not still employed. Because of this your unemployment checks will not start until the pay you received as severance has run out. You should still file your Minnesota unemployment claim as soon as you are laid off, but just know that the severance pay will delay the start of your unemployment pay.

Did you know that you need to prove that you’ve been looking for a job while receiving Minnesota unemployment benefits? To keep that unemployment check coming you should be not only actually looking for a new job but documenting your activities so that you can be sure your unemployment claim stays approved while you search. The best thing to document as proof of your job search is contact related activities you engage in while on the job hunt. So keep a log of any resume’s or applications you submit. Note who they went to, for what position and when they were sent. If you do any interviews whether by phone or in person, document who you spoke with, when and for what type of position. It would even be smart to note whether the contact was by mail, phone or if in person keep track of your milage. The more detailed your documentation, the more you can relax knowing you are prepared to show that your job search is active and your Minnesota unemployment check will keep coming.

If you are attending school such as college or technical school beyond high school, you can apply for and claim unemployment benefits as long as you are willing and able to work during the hours and days that would be considered standard based on your previous employment. You must also continue to seek new employment every week and if offered a job that conflicts with your school, be willing to make an adjustment. High school students are not eligible for unemployment insurance benefits in Minnesota even during summer break. If a student is no longer in high school but is working towards a GED they may be eligible for Minnesota Unemployment based on the previous considerations.

For example: If you were working 2nd shift and were laid off you may begin to take courses at the local college during the day. As long as you keep looking for new work and are willing to take new work during 2nd shift you can be in school and still get unemployment benefits.

If you are job hunting in Minnesota you should know that a prospective employer will likley be doing a background and credit check on you. Many employers use your criminal background and credit to make a determination of whether or not to hire an employee. Because they will be checking you out it is good to know what your record shows. You can visit MNCourts.Gov to look you both your criminal and traffic record and do a judgement search to see if there are any records of you being sued. The search at MNCourts.Gov is at http://www.mncourts.gov/default.aspx?page=1927 and is easy to run.

If you are going to file a claim for Minnesota Unemployment Insurance you’ll need to become familiar with the Minnesota UI website called UIMN at www.UIMN.Org this is the core unemployment benefits website handling unemployment claims and certification in Minnesota. In addition to certifying weekly for your benefits you should consult the uimn.org website to get updates related to unemployment news, alerts and extension news. If you have questions regarding your unemployment benefits you can probably find the answers at the UIMN website in the FAQ or updates section. If the UIMN website isn’t providing you with what you need you can contact Minnesota Unemployment directly at the phone number 651-296-3644. You may find that due to recent spikes in unemployment claims the phone number is often busy so it is best to see if UIMN can fulfill your needs.

Starting a job search in Minnesota?  Craigslist Minnesota is one of the best places to search for employment.  To start visit the Minnesota Craigslist website at http://geo.craigslist.org/iso/us/mn which is the main Craigslist Minnesota website.  From this page you can choose a location that is closest to your major city.  Once you’ve chosen a Craigslist location say Minneapolis or Duluth for example you’ll see a large column listing all sorts of types of jobs.  Now you could select a category and start looking at all the available jobs.  If you want a faster more targeted approach you could just select the jobs link on top.  Then click Continue to job postings and you’ll see all the available jobs listed.  Now in the search for field type a keyword and hit search.  You’ll get a return of any job that matches your keyword in that location.  This works well because of a job is mis-categorized you still catch the listing.